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Wahinkto Lodge HistoryOrder of the ArrowThe Order of the Black ArrowA story appeared in the West Texas Scout News on September 8, 1937, concerning the revival of the Secret Order of the Black Arrow at Camp Fawcett during the summer camp held there in August 8-21, 1937. Only the best campers were elected to the society and it was one of the highest honors at camp. The
society admitted thirteen Scouts the first week and
six the second week. No reference was made as
to when the group was originally started at Camp
Fawcett or if it was also part of the program at
Camp Louis Farr that same summer. We know that
Willie Masters, a patrol leader in Troop 91, Eagle
Pass, was inducted into the Society that
summer. He remembers having a cedar wreath
placed over his shoulder during the ceremony.
Kunieh Camp SocietyBrice Draper organized the Kunieh Camp Society during summer camp at Camp Connellee in 1929. The camp was located on the banks of the North Concho River about sixteen miles northeast of San Angelo. J. T. Henderson, Senior Patrol Leader of Troop 2, Ralph Logan and John Logan, were tapped out to be members of the Kunieh Camp Society along with several other Scouts. Members of the Society were dressed in Indian costume and printed a black diamond on the candidates' foreheads during the tap out ceremony. Brice Draper, as Camp Director, made a talk to the new candidates about the Society and their responsibilities as honor campers. Then, Henderson and the other candidates, were required to sleep out overnight apart from the other Scouts of their troop, keep a fire going all night, and meditate. Upon completion of this task, they washed themselves to purify themselves early the next morning. They then went back to their troops but were required to remain on silence for the rest of the day. Upon completion of all the requirements for membership in the Society, a "black diamond" was stamped on their belt by members of the Kunieh Camp Society. During the early days of Scouting, each Scout has numerous emblems stamped on their belt to signify certain accomplishments while at camp. The black diamond was one of the highest honors that could be displayed on a Scout’s belt. The society was active through September 1932. A group was active in the Heart-O-Texas Council, Waco, and also in the Comanche Trail Council, Brownwood. In the latter council, the group was organized in 1935 and was active until 1945. For additional information on the Tribe of Ku-Ni-Eh go to http://usscouts.org/honorsociety/kunieh.asp and look at the story on the tribe by David Eby. Order of the ArrowIn visiting with Taylor by phone, he was able to share with this author several things that he remembers happening at camp that summer. He was seventeen years old at the time, was on the City of San Angelo Swim Team, and Eagle Scout in Troop 6 (1937), and had served as Patrol Leader of the Hyenia Patrol. He had been selected to be in the Order while serving on the camp staff that summer for his outstanding service to camp and to his troop.
In
visiting with C. A. McDonald, Jr. of San Angelo in
1989, he said that each troop picked out boys for
membership according to the number in their troop at
camp for membership. Everything to do with the
Order of the Arrow happened only in camp.
There were no other activities held during the
year. The Scouts were tapped out at the
campfire on Thursday night. When they were
tapped out a briar wreath was placed around their
neck and they remained at the campfire until
everyone else left. Instructed to Build a FireThe next day they worked at the mess hall, cleaning the camp latrine and other special projects. Most of them got a twig and chewed on the bark all day so that they wouldn't speak. At the end
of the ceremony that night, they received a card and
a felt OA Sash with a red arrow stamped on it.
Emmett D. Cox, Council President, and Henry
Ragsdale, Council Commissioner, were voted as
honorary members of the lodge. James M. Young, who
was inducted into the Order of the Arrow in the late
40’s, remembers that they were also required to
select an Indian name during their night alone.
Elected to MembershipThe author has been unable to find records or newspaper stories about the Order of the Arrow being used at Camp Fawcett during the summer of 1941. However, those elected to membership into the Order of the Arrow that first summer at Camp Louis Farr were: Troop 2,
San Angelo - Wilbur McCannon and C. H. Taylor,
Scoutmaster OA at Camp Fawcett Dr. Sterling Fly,
Jr., of Uvalde, believed that the OA was started at
Camp Fawcett in 1941, the same time as it was started
at Camp Louis Farr. A story appeared in a
newspaper on July 2, 1943, paper unknown, giving an
account of a week’s camp completed at Camp Fawcett,
June 20 - 27, by Troop 96 of Crystal City and Troop
9096 of Winter Haven. In the story a mention was
made of the Order of the Arrow. The story was
telling about all the various awards that Troop 96 had
earned at camp that summer.
The story
told of two of their troop members, Bob Fly and
Harold Harkey, who were members of the Camp’s Junior
Staff, “received the second Degree (Brotherhood) in
the Order of the Arrow, the highest camp award”
during camp that summer. This would indicate
that the Order was started in 1941, when the two
Scouts would have received the “First Degree,“
(Ordeal) as their names were not again mentioned
when the story went on to state that three other
Scouts in the troop had received the “First Degree”
the previous year in 1942. Scouts Jimmy
Mortensen, Bob Baker and Mike Moore were the three
Scouts to receive this honor for their work as
Patrol Leaders in their troop. First Brotherhood Members InductedThose inducted at Camp Louis Farr were: Don
Baldwin, Alfred Carthen, Wesley Fox, B. J. Hart,
Hardin Jones, Rothnal O’Kelly, Bob Sykes, Clilfford
Taylor, Jr., Dick Tucker, Francis Ward, Dwain
Dodson, H. S. Guthrie and Paul Ward. Meaning of “Wahinkto”Return to top Lodge TotemLater,
when the running deer was selected by the lodge as
the lodge totem, a new lanyard was designed and it
is still in use today. This lodge totem is a
piece of deer antler treaded on a leather thong and
worn around the neck. An overhand knot is tied
on each side of the antler to hold it in place on
the thong. A second antler is added to the
thong for the Brotherhood honor. When a person
receives the Vigil Honor, the thongs are each tied
into a simple overhead knot at the end of the
thongs. The deer antler is cut into one inch
lengths and a hole is drilled through the center of
the piece so that the leather thong may be threaded
through it. First Lodge Patch“About 1950, Jim Strother, Ray Hall Beck and I developed the design for the first Wahinkto Lodge (patch). The arrowhead was chosen because of he many arrowheads found in the vicinity of the Camp Louis Farr dining hall. The patch was to be placed on a sky blue triangle neckerchief. The neckerchief was to have a one inch white border. The patch was not adopted for wear on the uniform.” The patch was a three inch round patch with a red twill background and had a gold border. Around the top of the circle were the words “Wahinkto Lodge” with “WWW” around the bottom of the patch. In the center of the patch was a gold arrowhead with “199” embroidered in blue. A blue arrow went from left to right behind the arrowhead at an upward angle. The first lodge patch, designed to be worn on the uniform, was very similar to the current patch. The main difference is that the arrow at the top of the patch pointed to the right instead of the left when looking at the patch. This was the correct position of the patch at the time in that an arrowman worn his sash over his left shoulder until he became a Brotherhood member, when he would transfer it to the right shoulder. We are not sure when this patch was made except that it was sometime between 1950 and 1956. At the time the brown running deer became the totem of the lodge in place of the arrownhead. In 1957, a
second patch was designed and issued. The
arrow was switched to the right in keeping with the
new requirements on the sash. Unfortunately,
the name “Wahinkto” was misspelled and they had to
issue yet another patch with the correct spelling on
it. Later, another patch was designed with a
white deer on it just for Brotherhood members.
Lodge NeckerchiefReturn to top Lodge ChaptersKittan-
Great River OA Section Conferences 9-D
Conference - August 2-4, 1963 at Camp Sol Mayer
Three Have Served as Section ChiefsLance Lunsford also served as Section Chief for South Central Region Section 1 in 1995 and 1996. Both Section Conclaves were held at Sam Houston State University in August. Lodge ChiefsThere is no known record of the first lodge chiefs of Wahinkto Lodge. In 1951, when the lodge went to year-round lodge chiefs, their names were recorded on the annual Order of the Arrow Lodge Charter and became a matter of record. During 1986, the lodge changed its term of office from January 1 through December 31 of each year to September 1 through August 30th. Thus, you will find, starting with Russell Massey, that their term of office overlapped two years even though they served only for a twelve month term. The lodge went back to the first of the year starting in 1993. 1941 -
Camp Louis Farr - Charles “Chuck” Taylor
Lodge Advisers1948 - 49
- Vernon Bucher, Joe Lindle, Leonard Lee (Sponsors
of Farr tribe) Vigil HonorThe list of names contain the date that the application was submitted to the Order of the Arrow and not the year they were inducted. 1945 - J.
B. Morris, Joseph O. Galbraith, A. H. Bird
Founder’s AwardThe award
was first presented to David O’Neill and Lloyd
Deaton on October 17, 1994. Leadership in Service Award In recognition of the
Order of the Arrow's heritage of service, the
National Order of the Arrow Committee created a new
three-year Leadership in Service Program which was
announced at the 2004 NOAC. The Order strives to
strengthen Scouting's foundation of service by
further fostering in Arrowmen the ethic of servant
leadership.
By promoting and rewarding service that benefits the Boy Scouts of America's outdoor program, and the communities in which Scouts reside, the Order will be acting to support Scouting at the most important level. Requirements for the award can be met during the calendar years of 2005, 2006, and 2007. The "Leadership in Service Award" was first presented for 2005 at the HEB Winter Fellowship Camp in January 2006. Those receiving the award were: 2005 - Raymond Affleck,
Chris Calk, Nathan Calk, Jared Ducote, Jeremy
Graue, Matt Huro, Chris Johnson, David Kemp,
Lawson Kemp, Tom McKeel, Peter Perez, Matthew
Smart, Humberto Torres, Jr., Humberto Torres, Sr.,
& Dan Walker. Distinguish Service AwardThe national OA Committee presents the Distinguished Service Award to those Arrowmen who had rendered outstanding service to the Order on a section, area, regional or national level. It is given primarily for dedicated service to the Order and Scouting over a period of years. It is the only award in Scouting that is presented to youth members, adult volunteers and professional Scouters. The Award was present to Frank T. Hilton, in 1983 Program Director. It was presented for him having served as OA Section Staff Adviser in Sections 9-B, 3-B and IV for many years. He served as Lodge Staff Adviser for the Tonkawa Lodge and Tejas Lodge prior to moving to Concho Valley Council in 1974, In this Lodge, he served as Staff Adviser for the Wahinkto Lodge from 1974 through 1987, and again from 1989 through 1990. Upon becoming the Scout Executive in Comanche Trail Council, Brownwood, he served as Staff Adviser of the Otena Lodge from 1991 until his retirement from professional Scouting in January 1997.
Curtis B. Dyer Award James E. West
Award
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He remembers
that the professional staff in camp put on the
ceremony and that Paul Ireland used a wand to tap
out candidates. They wore no costumes except
their camp uniform. He was elected as the
first lodge chief by the other members. He
indicated that some sort of group already existed
prior to that summer. This was probably the
Knish Camp Society. He also remembers that
there were no books to read from; that they created
a ceremony for the tap out and induction ceremony.
